
Natural - History 
Plays and 
Dialogues 



*^t 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

§|a|t init^rjgl^t f o. _. 

Shelf.i.-t)7-S 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Natural-History Plays 



DIALOGUES AND RECITATIONS 



SCHOOL EXHIBITIOJSrS 



LOUISA P. HOPKINS 



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5**ft 



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OCT 4 T004 



BOSTOiSr 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 

:N'EW YORK CIIAF.LES T. DILLIJS'GHAM 

1885 



\ 






Copyriijlit, 

1884, 

JiY LEE ANU bllErAltD. 



AU Rights Reserved. 

NATUKAL-mSTORr PLAYS. 



C. ,T. PETERS AND SOX, 

STEUEOTYPERS AND ELECTKOTYPEKS, 

145 lIlUU SXKEKT. 



PREFACE, 



These plays, whicli first ajjpeared in Bicknell's edu- 
cational periodicals, were written for and successfully 
used by a class of pupils of from seven to twelve years 
of age, during a period of several years. 

They are designed for concerts or part-recitation and 
reading, and many of them involve action ; the Move- 
fnent-jjlays are to be carried out by characteristic 
motions accompanying the text, as may be indicated 
by the teacher or suggested by the spontaneous action 
of the pupils, in imitation of the natural movements of 
the animals represented, and after the manner of the 
Kindergarten-plays as prescribed by Frobel. 

The author also offers these plays as accurate and 
scientific studies of their subjects, not only enter- 
taining, but instructive, and giving unconsciously a 
knowledge of the facts, technicalities, and scientific 
classiiications of animals; the structure, habits, food, 
and haunts of every animal represented, and the dis- 
tinctive characteristics of every class have been thor- 
oughly and conscientiously worked out, and may be 
relied upon for fundamental, scientific instruction in 
natural history. 

LOTJISA P. HOPKIXS. 

New Bedford, June, 1884. 



C O X T E X T S. 



PAGE 

1. The Bears 5 

2. The Beavers 9 

3. The Felix.e 15 

4. The Pachydeemata 17 

5. The Squirrel 21 

6. Tour of Megaceros Hiberkicus (The Deer) .... 23 

7. The Fur Seal of Alaska 28 

8. In the Sea 32 

9. The Turtle axd the Frog 34 

10. SuJiMER Insects 36 

11. The Burying Beetle 39 

12. The Bee, the Ant, and the Spider 41 

13. The Bluebird and Oriole 44 

14. The Procession of the Birds 46 

15. Hepatica and Epigea 4G 

16. The Flowery Hillside 51 

17. The Flaxseed 52 

18. The Indian Corn 53 

19. Kings of the Prime 54 

20. Rivers of the Atlantic Coast 00 

21. Discovert of Greenland and Xorth Amuiica . . 64 

22. The Northern Voy'Age 67 

23. Bessie 68 

24. The New Year's Journey 70 

25. The New Year's Tournament 72 

26. Thanksgiving 74 

27. The Poor Little Christ-Child 75 

28. The First Christmas Carol 76 



IV CONTENTS. 

29. The Three Sages 77 

30. The Pkayeks of the Childeex 78 

31. Abraham Lixcolx 81 

32. James A. Garfield 81 

33. Easter Roundels, 

I. On Easter Day 83 

II. The Snoiodrop comes 84 

34. Memorial Rondeaux, 

I. Fair Cherished Fkir/ 84 

II. Wreaths for the Brave 85 

III. The Minute Gun 8') 

35. Ode to Science 8G 



NATUEAL-HISTOEY PLAYS. 



THE BEARS. 

( MO VEME]>f T-PIi AY. ) 

\_Gr%zzly^ Polar ^ J^lacJc^ mid Great Brovm Bears. 
Boys luearing characteristic furs.'] 

Grizzly Bear. 

Good clay, give paw, great Bruin brothers ; 
I greet ye as I would no others. 
Are ye just roused from winter's sleep 
In rocky den or cavern deep ? 

Polar Bear. 

My wife daes the family sleeping, 
Her two fat cubs she is keeping, 
All snug in their snowy hole, 
Far up by the Northern Pole. 
But I, in my great white coat. 
On the cold blue ice-blocks float ; 
Or roam o'er the snowy plains 
Where old King Winter reigns. 

Grizzly Bear. 

You are the bear of my very heart, 
xMy brave and honest counterpart. 
I could show you slides on the glaciered slope, 
And hunts for the bison and antelope. 

5 



6 THE BEAKS. 

For tlie Rocky Mountain tracts I roam, 
And their fastnesses are my wild safe home. 
My wife and babies may sleep and doze, 
At hibernating I tos» my nose. 

Polar Bear. 

I swim and bask and dive 

Where the strong-tusked walrus live. 

And the seal and fish I eat 

In my icy, lone retreat. 

While, through the six-months night, 

Aurora flashes bright, 

And lights my festive way 

While I gambol, roar, and play. 

Black Bear. 

Well, a good sleep 's no harm, 
I care not to alarm ; 
Grizzly's ferocious muzzle 
The bleeding flesh may guzzle ; 
I choose a milder diet. 
And winter's warm dark quiet ; 
The odorous summer air. 
Suits, too, this homely bear. 

Grizzly Bear. 

Yes, tame old dolt, you climb the trees, 
And gnaw the trunk to find the bees. 
Then scrape the honey, with your paw, 
Right into your capacious maw ; 
With berry-juice your face you stain, 
And roam from Florida to Maine. 



THE BEAPtS. 

Black Bear. 

I envy not your fame, 
The terror of your nrjiie, 
Your broad and grizzly Lead 
Close on the bison's tread, 
Your sharply-chiselled claws 
Writing your bloody laws. 

Great Broimi Bear, 

I am so dull, but just aroused. 

So welll slept, so warm was housed ; 

My moss-lined hole and family, 

True, solid comfort are to me. 

I love the little human folks, 

They stroke my nose, and pat and coax ; 

I let them climb my back, then run, 

And love their frolic and their fun. 

Polar Bear. 

Where do you live, old didlard. 
So brown and tamely colored ? 

Brown Bear. 

In Scandinavian woods I roam. 
But sometimes to your borders come ; 
Through lofty Himalaya's gates, 
Across the steppes to Behring's Straits. 
In German forests, too, I hide, 
Die Kinder on my saddle ride ; 
But wdien I scent a nice fat sheep 
My instincts wild their temper keej). 



8 THE BEARS. 

Grizzly Jjear. 

All men will flee from me 
When they the carcass sec 
Of the wild deer I have slain, 
Kor dare come back again. 

Polar Bear. 

When on my haunches, brought to baj-, 
The Esquimaux shall rue the day. 
The finder of his reindeer-meat 
Tlim, too, can quickly slay and eat. 

JjToion Bear. 

Once, round a fire-encircled camp 
I crept amid the dusk and damp. 
Then, dripping from the nearest stream. 
Invaded each scared sleeper's dream. 
They call me now by reverend name ; 
So wise, so cunning, and so tame ! 

Blach Bear. 

Now, brothers all, good-day! 
I must be on my way. 
I think you, too, will run 
At sound of hunter's gun. 



THE BEAVERS. 9 

THE BEAVERS.* 

(movement-play.) 

The Amik Family on the Banks of a Pond, in Octobei!. 

Papa, .... Ahyabamik. Grandmother, Gicliiamik. 
Mamma, . . . N^ozhamik. Children^ Oboyewa, Aliwaueslia. 

N'ozhamih. 

Sweet, golden, hazy air, 

Deep, myriad hum. 
Dear Indian summer days, 

They softly come ! - 
Hear from yon blaze of trees 

Woodpeckers drum. 
Delightful here to stay, 

Our coats to dry, 
With heads turned diverse way. 

Sharp, watchful eye ! 
But hist ! the wolverine 

Goes howling by. 

Ahycibamik. 

Jump, swim ! I follow you 

Dear Nozhamik ! 
With long hind-legs we 're in 

The water quick ; 
For fear of that wild beast 

My heart is sick. 
Spank water as we dive 

Give loud report, 

* The names given to the papa, mamma, grandmother, and 
children are so used by the Indians. 



10 THE BEAVERS. 

Oboye and Nesha 

Are at their sport 
About the musky mead 

Where we resort. 

N^oz/iamik. 

Ahyab, I hear them dive 

Deep in the wave ; 
'T is better to be wise 

Than to be brave, 
For caution and good speed 

Our lives will save. 
Before these spreading ponds 

Are frozen in 
We '11 have a dam and lodge ; 

N'ow let 's begin 
And here, by Big-grass Lake 

A homestead win. 

Ahyahamik. 

Yonder that strong, firm tree, 

The Cottonwood ! 
Its well-knit boughs shall be 

Our timber good. 
Its bark and shoots Ave '11 store 

For winter's food. 
Now resting on our tails 

And hinder paws, 
We '11 cut the tree straight through 

With teeth and claws ; 
It shall be felled to-night 

By chips and gnaws. 



THE BEAVERS. 11 i 

\ 

JVbz/iamik. ; 

There comes that jolly boy, I 

Oboyewa ! I 

See, galloping from play j 

With shrill hurrah, | 
To cut the little twigs 

And help jjapa. 

Ohoyeioa and Ahioanesha. \ 
Chip, chip, with sharp front teeth, 

All night, all day, ; 
Then in the current deep 

We '11 swim and play, 
We '11 dive and duck and leap 

All care away. 

Kozhaniik. \ 

How handy, children dear, j 

So near the pond ! ] 

But do not float the sticks j 

The dam beyond, i 

Nor stop to nibble now j 

The lily-frond. ' ] 

But carry roots and twigs j 

And little stones ] 

With fore-paws 'neath the chin ; — \ 

All foolish drones | 
Old grizzly bear will eat. 

And gnaw their bones. '., 

Gichiamilk. ' 
Ah I" 't is a pretty sight, 

Trees floating down ; 



12 THE BEAVERS. 

Steered by Amik and wife 

To Beaver-town, 
With fresh green grass and S2:)rigs 

By babies brown : 
This gentle family 

Of old renown ! 

Ahyahamik. 

Gichi, you say these works 

Are old as Ham ; 
Our fathers from the Ark 

First built this dam, 
And dug canals ; what else? 

Pray tell us, ma'am. 

GichiamiJc. 

Acres of trees they felled, 

Great burrows made. 
These Beaver-meadows spread, 

Foundations laid, 
And countless generations 

Here have stayed. 
Where nothing could molest 

Or make afraid. 

KozJiamik. 

Ahyab, my family 

Is older yet ; 
Their giant fossil bones 

Are often met 
In some deep sti-atum, which 

I now forojet. 



THE BEAVERS. 13 



Ahyahamik. 

Well, leave such fables now ; 

These clean-cut rails 
Pack clown with many a thud 

Of scaly tails, 
Good, solid masonry 

That never fails. 

N'ozhcmiih. 

The little tails slap, slap 

The muddy ground ; 
The little twigs snap, snap, 

Stick all around. 
Swh cheery work is this, 

Such busy sound ! 

Ahyahamik. 

Above the Avater-mark 

The chamber build, 
Yet not too high for ways 

With water filled ; 
This needs a clear, wise mind. 

And labor skilled. 
Slope smooth, arched passages 

To deep tides led. 
Below the thickest ice 

Spread overhead ; 
There we can swim and scull. 

Here housed and fed. 

JS'ozJiamik. 

Now this is Beaver bliss ! 
Our warm, dry lodge — 



14 THE BEAVERS. 

Shield from the north wind's kiss - 

Is no hodge-podge, 
But here the wild-cat's kiss 

We '11 safely dodge. 
We '11 truss the stout old dam 

With criss-cross sticks, 
Before the freshet's jam 

New mud we '11 mix, 
And all the holes we '11 cram 

And timbers fix. 

Oboi/eioa and Ahvmnesha. 

And while the polywogs 

All stare and jump. 
We '11 push the poplar logs, 

The thick mud dump. 
And with our trowel tails 

Pound thump, thump, thumj). 

GichiaraiJc. 

Yes, cunning little boys, 

Sit up on end. 
Make no unseemly noise, 

But close attend ; 
Then you shall go to-night 

The dam to mend. 
While the clear hunter's moon 

Her lio-ht sliall lend. 



THE FELINiE. 15 

THE FELINE. 

(movement-play.) 
{Lio7i^ Tiger^ Leopard^ c£'c'.) 

Lion. Hurrah, my kinsfolk wild ! 

Where tropic sun hath smiled, 
O'er Afric's burning sand 
I lift my visage grand ; 
And hold majestic reign 
On India's delta-plain. — 
Not by the ISTile or Niger 
Your sunless couch, my Tiger ! 

Tiijer, My whelps in Indian lair 

Smooth their dark-banded hair. 
I love the jungle deep, 
And forth at night I creep. 
By Asian river-fringes 
My supple body cringes. 
With wild eye, sly and fierce, 
The coverts dark I pierce, 
Then with ferocious spring 
My sharp claws tear and sting. 

.Lion. My graceful Lioness 

Her darlings doth caress 

In cool and shady dell, 

While I stand sentinel. 

My rippling, yellow mane. 

Like showers of golden rain, % 

Falls round my tawny side ; 

My glance, who may abide ? 



16 THE FELINE. 

Leopard. I scent the Zebra's trail, 

And wave my cat-like tail ; 
With many an agile bound 
I bring my prey to ground. 
My spotted, glossy fur, 
In restless, graceful stir, 
Lies crouching by the way, 
In Nubia or Bombay. 

Jaguar, Upon the pampas' course 

I seize the swift, wild horse, 
While on his flanks I curl 
I dodge the lasso's hurl. 
Through Amazonian trees 
The whistling monkey tiees 
My fierce, nocturnal prowl, 
With direful yelp and howl. 

Lion,. Fearless and peerless, I, 

In my ferocity ! 
Struck by my mighty paw. 
Slain by my lance-like claw 
Fixed in its quivering sheath. 
Prey, in my pitiless teeth. 
Yields me its proudest blood 
While over bush and flood 
Full twenty feet I bound. 
Spurning the carnnge-ground. 



Chorus. 



Ilail, beautiful, cruel Felina^, 
Sleek, whiskered, striped, spotted, < 



THE PACHYDERMATA. 17 

All panting with merciless power, 
Seeking whom ye may devour, 
Cat, Ocelot, Panther, and Puma, 
Lynx, Jackal, Hyena, and Cougar, 
Vain, graceful, sly, sanguine Carnivora, 
We shout your loud praises, — Hurrah! 'rah 



THE PACHYDERMATA. 

{Elephant^ Rhinoceros^ lUppopotanias^ MammotJi^ etc.) 

Chorus. Horned Khinoceros, 

Sleek Hippopotamus, 
Elephant, Tapir, 
Mammoth and Mastodon, 
Relics of ages gone, — 
Gone like a vapoi*, — 
In deep, sonorous tones. 
Stir up your mighty bones. 
Vestiges hoary ; 
Great Megatherium, 
Speak your delirium, 
Tell us your story. 

Maiiunoth^ Mastodon, 3Ie g either i am. 
Giant Conifera, 
Monstrous herbivora. 
Misty morasses. 
Great ferns and grasses, — 
In such proportions, 
Yours seem abortions : — 



18 THE PACllYDERMATA. 

This was the dreamy earth, 

Home of our early birth. 

Jungle and swamp we roved, 

Roots, fruits, and leaves we loved ; 

Ate the cane succulent. 

Sometimes grew truculent, 

In contests engaging 

With roaring and raging. 

Our bulk so stupendous. 

Our forces tremendous. 

Gave impetus, motion. 

Like surges of ocean. 

A herd so gigantic 

Would drive armies frantic ; 

With trunks in the air, 

Enormous tusks bare, 

To chaos we hurled 

The 23re-Adamite world. 
IIippo2yota77ms. 

On the cool river-bottom all the day 

I stand, or in the soft mud roll and play. 

Besmear my hide or lave my uncouth bulk, — 

Or sunk, or stranded, still a shapeless hulk. 

My goggle eyes, great nostrils, little ears 

Above the water, all else disappears ; 

These map out my huge head and broad, flat nose 

And you may guess my form so adipose. 

My homel}^ baby squats upon my back 

Contented in his hydropathic pack. 

I represent the monsters of the prime, 

And by the swam])y Nile I bide my time. 



THE PACIIYDERIMATA. 1!) 

To yon my inch-thick liide and heavy teeth 
Of linest ivory I now beqneath. 



Uhu)oceros. 



My skin is tongh 

And thick enongh 
To bhmt a leaden bnllet ; 

Horn on my nose 

Excrescent grows, 
Be careful how you pull it. 

My demi-snont 

It pokes about 
To find the rice and honey ; 

While all in folds 

And uncouth moulds 
My black coat hangs so funny ! 

My upper lip, 

The buds to nip, 
Elastic and prehensile ; 

For digging roots, 

Or pulling fruits, 
Convenient utensil ! 

My piggish eyes 

Sliow no surprise 
Howe'er the ])rospect changes ; 

To British tanks 

From Ganges' banks 
Or Java's mountain ranches. 



20 THE PACHYDERMATA. 

I keenly scent 

Each fell intent, 
And seldom am I taken ; 

For Tiger's spoil, 

Or Caffre-toil, 
Or Hottentot's rich bacon. 

And when too near 
Charged Bushman spear, 

I jmnped and dodged and scampered ; 
With furious rush 
Reached sheltering brush. 

Where still I roam unhampered. 

Ele]r>liant. In spicy Indian lands, 
On palmy river-strands 

Along the torrid lines, 
In woods of myrrh and musk, 
The elej)hant's white tusk 

Of polished ivory shines. 

Plis trunk so lithe and great, 
Of touch so delicate, 

Is liis portcullis grand; 
His ivory battlements, 
High towers of defence, 

Stand out on either hand. 

Where fierce siroccos parch. 
Like armies on the march. 
His troops resistless sweep; 



THE SQUIRREL. 21 

Or witli resounding snort, 
Swifter than trained cohort, 
Rush to tlie rivers deej). 

Mark his majestic tread, 
His wise, sagacious head. 

His regal dignity ! 
The gentle and the strong, — 
Both to his name belong, 

Might and benignity. 

Chorus. 
Tusked Babiroussa, little Peccary, 
Hog of Papua, hog ordinary, 
British Wild Boar, South American Tapir, 
With long, flexible snout, and short, clumsy caper, 
With the rest of your kin, amble in as Errata, 
Proboscidean Pachyderm at a ! 



THE SQUIRREL. 

Question. Deep in the russet wood. 
Or in the upland sun. 
What whiskered, furry brood 
On thrifty errands run ? 

Snoozing in cosy nest. 
Their cuddling young close-pressed 
To each warm, silky breast ; 
Peering from hollow^ tree. 
Glancing out warily, 



22 THE SQUIEREL. 

Skimming along the wall, 
Scaling the beech-tree tall, 
Resting on bushy tail, 
Scouting on sweet-nut trail, — 
Their sharp incisors set 
In the acorn green and wet, — 
Cracking their husky food. 
So playful and so good ; 
What are their names, I pray ? 

Answe7\ Ah! 'tis the squirrel gay, 

Black, red, or striped, or gray, 

Chipmunk or Chickaree, 

At home in the old pine tree. 

The oak, or hickory. 

Down from the cold northwest 

Marching their level best, 

The Michigan farmer's pest. 

Come the long-whiskered troop, 

Scared by the owlet's whoop. 
Far in Pi-airie-du-Chien 
Stretches the dotted plain ; 
Sentinels nimble, vain. 

Guarding each tiny hut, — 

Village of Lilliput. 
From Florida's cypress glade, 
From Canada's fir-tree shade, 
To the shores of Hudson's Bay 
Frisking their lively way, 
Roam the Sciiirida}, 
Jocundj free company 1 



THE DEER. 23 

(To be read, and localities traced upon the map.) 

TOUR OF MEGACEROS HIBERNICUS.* 
THE DEER. 

A weird old ghost of an Irish Elk 

From his smoky peat-bog rose ; 
Ten feet four inches he reared his crest 

From his medieval doze ; 
And he looked abroad with a lofty air, 

Ancient and grandiose. 

" I fear," said he, " of my antlered race 

But a few marl fossils remain. 
So I '11 scour the earth for whomsoe'er 

To the family appertain ; 
If the fittest survive, I may find one alive 

That can lay my ghost again." 

First with his filmy orbitals 

He spied the Isle of Man, 
But found his old friend disinterred 

For the modern Avorld to scan, 
So he heaved the sigh of the wild Banshee, 

And swam to Cardigan. 

He stalked ashore, a ghost forlorn. 

With a deep sense of neglect ; 
Till he saw the elegant Fallow Deer, 

Light brown with yellow flecked ; 
Their fond words tickled his empty ear 

With a kindred dialect. 

* The Great Fossil Irish Elk. 



24 THE DEER. 

But the skeleton lord of the Irish peat 

Disdained the English park, 
"A pretty, pigmy race are they, 

A prey for human mark. 

Better my noble role to keep 

Of fossil patriarch." 

Then north he sped to Inverness, 

To greet the Red Deer bold ; 
The pride of Scotland's mountain-lands 

In song and story told, 
While graceful Roebuck modestly 

The lower coverts hold. 

Pie plunged beneath the Arctic wave, 

He stalked the icy zones, 
Where the Reindeer gallops miles on miles 

To the sledge-bells' tinkling tones, 
And he skimmed the snow where the night winds blew, 

The chill sleet through his bones. 

He saw the Reindeer strong and true. 

And grandly built and wise ; 
But 't was sad to see him live and die 

For man to utilize ; 
His skin, his flesh, his horns, his bones, 

A wholesale sacrifice ! 

Now for a dip in the Baltic Sea, 

And a stride o'er the lowlands dam]>, 
Then up the beautiful Switzer hills 

With lumbering, uncouth trani]>, 



THE DEER. 25 j 

Till lie saw the Chamois poised on high, i 

Like a silhouette's clear stamp. ■ 

Cis-Alpine lands enticed him on J 

To swim the mid-world mere ; 

All rich, ripe human history ' 1 

Hath shed its fruitage here. — j 

He hastened with reluctant step \ 

Through sunny, swart Algier ; .| 

There for a comic episode \ 

He met the queer Giraffe, ■ 

While all his monstrous, brittle ribs j 

Loud clattered with a laugh, ' 

To see his short horns perched aloft :| 

In tamarisk-leafed Kordaf. I 

Then sped he on where thousand herds j 

In swift and graceful band, — : 

The straight-horned Oryx, fleet Pallah, : 
And beautiful Eland, 

Gazelle and Springbok o'er the plains 

His wondering gaze demand. >, 

Their myriad horns like sabres brig] it . ] 

Were flashing in the sun ; 
Accoutred troops of cavalry, — 

They charged upon the run, : 

And wily Lions ambushed them \ 

Until the day was done. \ 

Then o'er the wide Atlantic seas 

He reached that western world, \ 



26 THE DEER. 

Where rivers rush, sierras tower, 
And great plains are unfurled ; 

Where the little Guazaj^ita graze, 
On the pampas' bloom impearled. 

There lifts the Andes' smoking crest 

Against the soft, blue air, 
Where patient, snow-white Llamas climb, 

The silvery ore to bear, 
Alpaca and Vicuiia leap 

With silky fioAving hair. 

Upon the backbone of the world, 

From Chimborazo's peak. 
Across the neck of Darien 

He heard the oceans speak. 
And w^ondered what catastrophe 

Would follow should it leak. 

He scaled the strong Pacific wall 
With Rocky Mountain Goat, 

Then stood in awe at Shasta's front, 
And at the canon's throat. 

While grand Yosemite's old pines 
Sang him their solemn rote. 

He saw the noble Wapiti 

O'er vast savannas run ; 
He sniifed the buds and grasses sweet, 

The berries in the sun. 
Salt-licks, and water-courses cool. 

And loved the fawns so dun. 



27 



And in October's carnival, — 
Gay summer's last retreat, — 

He watched the Stags, as in the tight 
Their branching antlers meet, 

Till gloriously the victor stands 
In championship complete; — 

He saw the ox-eyed Antelopes 

By blue Wind liiver banks 
All playing with their pretty fawns 

Who tossed their tawny shanks, 
Frisking about the pastures green 

With winsome, merry pranks; — 

He i^assed the lonely Caribou 

On Athabasca's snows. 
To v/oods primeval, where the Moose 

Unfettered proudly goes ; 
At last his own untamed compeer 

Still liveth ! so he knows. 

Great-horned Moose ! six feet apart 

His yearling antlers loom. 
And crashing through the ancient boughs 

Sounds far their noisy boom, 
Nor like the giant Elk is hea^-d 

His geologic doom. 

But there he stands, in flesh and blood, 

Eleven feet I trovr ; 
Who doubteth, let him turn and read 

"The Maine Wood:?," by Thoreau. 



28 THE FUR SEAL OF ALASKA, 

So the ghost is laid in liis marl-bed grave 
With a deep, contented sougli. 



THE FUR SEAL OF ALASKA. 

(readixg-lesson. ) 

Up to the ice-pack's crash ! 

Where great seal-squadrons dash 
Through leagues of foaming breakers, 

To the hoary sea terrific, 

Crownhig the broad Pacitic — 
Behring's surf-beaten acres! 

Acres of angry sea 

Toss round tumultuously 
The white, remorseless glaciers ; 

Acres of rock and fen. 

Turf homes of savage men 
Sunk in volcanic braziers. 

There the fur-clad Aleut 

Hides from Seal-scouts, who suit 

Their haunts to pur])Ose wary, 
Seeking their island home. 
Girdled with rock and foam, 

So strong and solitary ! 

Acres of heaving flesh 
Break through the billowy mesh, — 
A roaring promontoiy ; 



THE FUK SEAL OF ALASKA. 29 

Victorious generals, 
Old shore-confederals, 
Bellowing in their glory ; 

Clouded in steaming musk 

Rampant, with claw and tusk 
In grapple fierce eugagiiig ; 

Ten days and nights, or more, 

For miles along the shore, 
In direful contest raging, 

Tlie monsters storm the islands. 

Settle volcanic highlands ; — 
Six-linndred-pounders plucky, — 

Growling in echoing thunders. 

Tusked, elephantine wonders. 
Beach-masters, Holluschucke.* 

Across the stormy wave 
The great sea-lions rave. 
From many a spray-tossed boulder. 
Where many a jutting ledge 
Hanojs o'er the water's edo^e 



The yellow Walrus prance. 
And the wild Sea-otters glance 

O'er the chafing, booming ocean ; 

While the Seals peer through the mist, 
Calling their wives, who list 

To the eager, rougli commotion. 

* Names given to the older and younger males. 



30 THE FUR SEAL OF ALASKA. 

Tlien tlirougli the lashing surge 
From the muffliug i'ogs emerge 

The bleating, soft-eyed swimmers; 
And their whinny cry resomids 
O'er the noisy breeding-grounds, 

Where the waiting vanguard shimmers. 

Soon the masters of the coast 
Lift the shining, supple host 

To tlieir rocky reservations ; 
Till reverberations cease, 
And the rookery lies at peace 

In its families and nations. 

Four million great Fur Seals 
Lie at rest while Nature feels 

The hoarse wind of their breathing ; 
Dispersing life's warm breath 
Through the icy realms of death. 

From myriad nostrils seething. 

Through the palpitating mass 
The free Holluschucke pass 

Down sandy reaches ambling ; 

While the lively young ones follow, 
Black balls rolling in tlie hollow, 

Or on nimble flippers rambling. 

Then while the masters rove 
Mothers dally in the cove, — 
Deft, flexilJle foam-dijipei's, — 



THE FUR SEAL OF ALASKA. 31 

In the blue midsummer air 
Combing their glistening hair, 
Or fanning with web-flippers. 

So the summer days creep up, 
Till each mother, with her "pup," 

In open ocean gambols ; 

Bathing in emerald pools, 
Swimming by shoals and schools, 

Or along the white slope rambles. 

Silver-gray, in sapphire sea. 

Close the ranks to wind and lee, 
Li skilful evolution, — 

Wheeling in grand platoon, 

Rushing in squads, — for soon 
Comes their six-months' ablution. 

After midsummer fast 

The beach-masters seek repast 
In the clear fish-swarming water; 

Then return the yellow herd, 

All so royally befurred. 
Doomed to decimating slaughter. 

Soon the bold lords of the fief, 
Who have not yet come to grief, 

Ee-embark with freshened courage, 
New lease of life to take, 
While the finger of their wake 

Beckons sweethearts to the vova^e. 



32 IN THE SEA. 

Now the sleek, round heads arise, 
Gazing with wistful eyes 

After the truant Kaisers ; 

Currents from torrid seas. 
Dreams of Hesperides, 

Woo them, soft magnetizers ! 

Then away to southern wave, 
Over many a coral cave ; 

Whisper not the secret whither; 
But where lovers go before, 
To some far Antarctic shore, 

Shall not true hearts follow thither ? 



IN THE SEA. 

(movement-play. ) 
{Coral^ Star-fish^ Sea-anemone^ Jelhf-Jish^ dec.) 

Coral. I 'm a happy poly]>, 

Floating up and down, 
And Avhen my journey's ended 

I '11 stop at Coral-town. 
In yonder green-ringed islet 

Around the blue lagoon, 
I'll find my crevice ready, 

And take my station soon. 

Star-fish. I S]iread my scarlet arms out 
Witlun this mossy j)Ool, 



IN THE SEA. 33 

My tentacles slow waving 

About the water cool ; 
Wiiile my omnivorous stomach 

Unfolds, and stretches round 
To suck in all the little shrimps, 

With sweetly gurgling sound. 

Sea-anemone. 

Glance down at me, bright Star-fish, 

With your five searching eyes ; 
Reach hither one strong finger. 

And take me as your prize. 
With all my rosy fringes 

And dextrous lasso-coil, 
I '11 be your commissar}^. 

And bring abundant spoil. 

Portuguese Man-of-vKir. 

Come, maiden fair and stately. 

Moored on the amber rock. 
My purple sails are ready, 

My oars are in the lock. 
O, lovely Sea-anemone, 

'Tis you whom I adore. 
Come grace the pearly galley 

Of the Portuguese Man-of-war. 

Jelhj-jish. I '11 follow you, gay gallant, 
With all my rainbow fleet, 
My dainty, pale-green canopy 
Shall shield you from the heat. 



34 THE TURTLE AND THE FROG. 

Its graceful, swaying fi-iuges 
Shall waft you as you glide 

Through blue, translucent waters, 
Your convoy by your side. 



Chori 



Among the branching corals, 

Among the sea-w^eeds gay, 
Down in the mermaid's palaces, 

We glide and dart and j^lay ; 
With lovely tints adorning 

The deep sea's glistening floor. 
With phosphorescent glimmer 

Illumining the shore. 
All radiantly beautiful, 

Bright creatures of the sea ! 
Come search us out, and learn our part 

In God's infinity. 



THE TURTLE AND THE FROG. 

(MOVEMENT-PLAY. ) 

Beside a cranberry bog. 
In the sunny autumn fog, 
Was heard this dialogue 
Of the Turtle and the Frog. 

Turtle. I low lazily you jump 

Brother Bull ! 



THE TURTLE AND THE FROG. 35 

Are you sullen, mopish, dump, 
That you settle and you slump, 
Like an alderman so plump. 
Stomach-full? 

Frog. How heavily you creep 

Brother Tur ! 
Are your eyes almost asleep, 
And your claws astraddle deep, 
That within your house you keep, 
Hardly stir? 

Turtle. Lift your treble eyelids slow 

Brother Frog \ 
See the sinuous Lizards go 
With the Beetles, to and fro. 
And the slimy snakes slip low 

Li the bog. 

Frog. Though my ears are in my throat, 

Turtle mine, 
Yet I cannot hear a note. 
And I cannot see a mote, 
And my long legs will not tote 

Me a line ; 

For my heart is waxen gross 

As my brain. 
Seems to me I've had a dose, 
And I feel so lachrymose. 
My condition comatose 

I attain. 



36 SUMMER INSECTS. 

Turtle. Well, the purple cranberries drop 

111 the mud ; 
While the scrawn}^ beetles stop, 
And the snakes and lizards flo]), 
In my bed I '11 shuttle-iDO]) 

With a thud. 
And I '11 take my winter's nap, 
. Long and deep ; 

While Jack Frost the earth will wrap 
In her nightgown and her cap. 
We will nestle in her lap 

Sound asleep. 



SUMMER INSECTS. 

(movement play.) 

(Girls in light gauzy draperies of bright colors.) 
Gnats, Dragon-Flies, and Butterjiies. 

Chorus. O warm, bright air elastic! 
O motion light and plastic ! 
In graceful mystic dancing 
Like sunbeams we are glancing. 
How beautiful ! thus lightly 
To glide with movement sprightly, 
Fair, lace-like wings to quiver 
Above this shining river ! 
The summer air so glowing, — 
Tlie ])orfuTnod blossoms blowing, — 



SUMMER INSECTS. 37 

A glorious life we 're living, 
Each day new pleasure giving. 

Dragon-Flies. 

What joy on gauzy wing- 
To float and dart and sing ! 
What wonder and surprise 
Greet our resplendent eyes ! 
Our food about us swarms 
In myriad insect forms. 

Our fate we did deplore 
On yonder muddy floor ; 
Brown, scrawny beetles there 
We crawled and swam our share, 
Our swift-propelling tail 
Served both for oar and sail. 

But new-born hopes awoke, — 

Our horny shells we broke. 

High on a swaying reed 

We panted to be freed ; 

And then, — O wonder true ! — 

Outspread these wings and flew. 

Gnats. Merry is our circling mazy 
In this air so soft and hazy. 
Black and white and gra}' our dresses. 
Tossed aloft our plumy tresses ; 
Up and down and right and left, 
Till of life we are bereft. 

Did you see our mimic boat 
On the sminv waters float ? 



38 SUMMER mSECTS. 

Made of clustered eggs, a wherry 
Cunning, safe as any ferry, 
Every egg a tiny ark. 
Till we left its prison dark. 

Then we lived like fairy bubbles, 
Happy, buoyant, free from troubles, 
Till, with warmest breezes blowing, 
Burst our pupa-corslet, showing 
Plumed head and filmy wings, 
Rising with aerial things. 

I^utterflies. To sip golden honey 

Through da3^s fair and sunny; 
To drink without toiling 
Our spiral tongues coiling. 
Quaff out of pearl chalice. 
In gay ilower-ijalace, — 
Then forth on bright pinions 
To roam our dominions ; — 
To mount and to rove. 
To live and to love ; 
This, Nature's sweet way 
Turning work into play. 
What joy in surviving 
All darkness and striA'ing ! 
'T was not ever so ; 
We struggled below ; 
In slow, patient toil 
We clung to the soil. 
And did our dull duty 
Without joy or beauty. 



THE BURYING BEETLE. 31) 

When kind N'ature bade 
Our white shrouds we made 
And wrapped us about 
In blind faith, no doubt, 
Then woke ; how surprising, 
How glorious our rising I 

CJioriis. From lower to higher 

We reach and aspire, 
We do what is given 
With trust in high Heaven. 

Then turn we wdien ready, 
With faith true and steady, 
To spheres that await us. 
With nobler afflatus ; 

Old chrysalides leaving 
Without care or grieving ; 
Hands reaching above us 
To ano-els that love us. 



THE BURYING BEETLE. 

I rested on a knoll in the woods, — 

The stirring summer w^oods, and the broods 

Of busy little ants sw^armed around 

From their cunning chambers deep underground. 

And the noisy buzzing bees flitted by, 

While afar the gauzy blue dragon-fly 



40 THE BURYING BEETLE. 

Hovered o'er the shady pool like a dream, 

To the rippling, cadenced music of the stream. 

When within a little space near ni}' side 

Saw I such a curious thing ! never tried 

Any sexton grim and steady, more intent 

On his digging or whatever task was meant. 

Lay a poor dead sparrow there, and beneath 

Plied a beetle black and orange, with a sheath 

Like a visor on its head for a spade, 

Turning up the furrow wliere the bird was laid. 

For three hours did tlie beetle dig and toil. 

Settling deep and deeper down in the soil. 

Then from out the s])arrow's graA'c did he crawl. 

And upon his victim's back dozing sprawl ; 

Not stirring for an hour, by my watch. 

On the pretty bird a black and yellow blotch. 

Suddenly he rouses lively from his slee]^, 

And descending to his ugly hole so deep. 

Pulls the feathers with his claws sure and slow, 

Till he 's buried in the earth loose and low. 

Then out hurries Sexton Beetle, — on my life! — • 

.Just bethinking him of that dull drone, his wife. 

Wliile his footsteps such a carrion scent emit 

That it i)oisons all the air where I sit. 

Soon return the scrawny couple, and I wonder 

As they scuttle underneatli the mound for plunder; 

Thus they take the spniTow's body for their larder. 

And their nursery too, and lay their eggs with nrdor. 

But when all is done T think they'll come to light 

iJeady for another sexton-job day or night. 



THE BEE, THE ANT, AND THE SPIDER. 41 

THE BEE, THE ANT, AND THE SPIDER. 

(MOYEMEIS'T-PLAY. ) 

Spider. 

How pleasant, while upborne on airy wave, 
To spread my laces, spin my threads, and save 
The pearly dews that glisten in the morn. 
My fairy robes of gossamer to adorn. 
How nice to weave my cunning spiral trap 
And then \yith one eye open take my nap ! 

Bee. 

Buzz, buzz, I am well called the busy bee ; 
The sun comes up, the flowers bloom for me. 
I '11 fly about and load my hairy legs 
With pollen-dust, to feed my larv^-eggs. 
Then pack it in my saddle-bags, and tax 
The generous flowers again for plates of wax. 
And suck up honey from the nectared wells 
To hoard within my curious, six-walled cells. 

Ant. 

There goes the noisy Bee ; what endless hum 
Announces all his pompous folks ! They come 
With fuss and wings, while I, more modest, creep 
Quiet and business-like about my heap. 
Mine out my galleries and raise my dome, 
Patient and tireless while I rear my home. 
Well, flying is my pastime once a year, 
I '11 take my wedding-flight when July 's here ; 
All over, then the useless wings I '11 doff. 
And go to work when I have pulled them off. 



42 THE BEE, THE ANT, AND THE SPIDER. 

Spider. 
Now starting from my hiding-place, so nimble, 
I '11 take my thread and needle (where 's my thimble ?) 
A fly is struggling through my breaking net. 
As I 'm alert, I lioj^e to have him yet. 
I '11 tie him down, laugh at his frantic buzz, 
And suck his blood, as every victor does ; 
Then, at my leisure, knit my silken bag 
To hang my eggs in, while the seasons wag. 

Bee. 
I '11 rifle all the roses this bright day ; 
My brother takes the tulij^s on his way ; 
For each wise bee seeks only kindred flowers. 
Conserving one pure nectar through the hours; 
From like corolla to corolla flies. 
Till, with his honeyed burden home he hies. 

Ant. 
Such hosts of green Aphides we have found ! 
We '11 drive them to our safe folds underground. 
We see them crowded close beneath the leaves 
To gather juices for us lucky thieves. 
Or on the oak-trees, sucking sap so good. 
We '11 follow them, and tap them for our food. 

Bee. 

What social, happy, thriving tribes are we. 
With fanning wings and talking antennaB. 
We meet in merry flight, and homeward go, 
ITow far soo'er our hive the wav we know, 



THE BEE, THE ANT, AND THE SPIDER. 43 

Take the bee-line, nor drop one precious load, 
But haste, like couriers, on our sunny road. 

In Africa our legionaries rear 

Their towering palaces, and brave men fear 

Their hosted swarms, marching o'er wasted leagues ; 

With military skill and fierce intrigues 

They storm, besiege, attack, and capture foes, 

With slaves reward their generalissimos, 

Honor their Osesars and Napoleons, 

Caress them living, deify their bones. 

They knew the tactics ere the schools had taught, 

And do by instinct what the heroes wrought. 

I can show men true patience and contrivance. 
What can be done by art and wise conniA'ance ; 
Better than looms my wondrous spinning-pockets; 
Swifter than weaver's shuttle or than rockets 
I twist my shining threads and shoot my lines 
Till centre with circumference all entwines, 
And fine and firm my castle walls are made 
With outworks and defences truly laid. 

How learned we thus the secrets of our art. 
To build our perfect cells, to play our part. 
Our eggs to nourish rightly, and prejiare 
Just what each needs, with such sagacious care "? 
What voice directs our queen to ardent flight. 
And calls to tournament each eager knight ? 



41: BI/JEBIKU AND OhIOLK. 

Wlrit clarion notes draw forth the U\ely swarm 
111 loyal zeal new colonies to form '? 

Chorus. 
ilow swiftly fly the hazy summer days! 
Each rosy hour rolls on its busy ways, 
While some kind Power our lesson to us reads, 
And gives each one the wisdom that he needs, 
Informs the bee and ant and spider too 
Its own true life to live, and work to do. 



BLUEBIRD AND ORIOLE. 

(movement-play. ) 

Bhiehird. What swift, bright thing 

Is on the wing, 
Singing out his soul ? 
'T is the Oriole 
In colors bold, 
All black and gold. 
His deep nest swung 
High boughs among 
Of the tall elm's shade. 

Oriole. Yes, I was made 

Of a sun-bright beam. 
In the dark shade's gleam. 



BLUEBIRD AND ORIOLE. 



45 



My song is loud, 
My Higlit is pi'oud 
To my queenly mate 
•As she swings in state. 

Bluebird. Chirp, chirp, chirree ! 

Trill gay and free. 
The sky is blue, 
And the water, too, 
And I flit between. 
As blue, I ween, 
While I dip and sing 
On azure wing. 
Golden Oriole ! 

Oriole. Your sweet trill-troll 

On the ether float 
From your fair blue throat. 
But where 's your nest 
And your mate's gray breast? 
Is it builded close 
In the deep repose 
Of a hollow tree ? 
Will you show it me? 



JBluebird. In the Linden-shade 

Where a little maid 
Reared a tiny house, 
Broods my darling spouse. 
Sing low, sing sweet. 
By that blest retreat. 



46 THE PKOCESSIOX OF TFiE P.IKDS. 

We come and go 
With a song, you know. 
Sing low, sing low. 

Both, Sing sweet, sing clear, 

High tide of the year ! 
Love's tale is told 
By Blue or Gold, 
In cosy nests, 
To brooding breasts. 
For hearts' delight 
All days are bright, 
While the eggs — pale blue 
Or white — break through, 
And the birdlings come 
To our waitiup' home. 



THE PROCESSION OF THE BIRDS. 

In the dark Evergreens, 

Hide the hardy little birds. 

The brave, modest birds of winter. 

Hark to the Chickadee's cheery words, 

And the blithe Song-sparrow, heavenwards 

From the Fir-tree spire 

Sending higher and higher 

Ilis notes of praise, like an altar-lire ! 



THE PROCESSIOX OF THE BIRDS. 47 

Wliile Goldfinch and Snowbird nestle below, 

Safe and warm from the wreathhig snow, 

Eating the berries, content and meek, 

As if they would speak 

Sweet words of hope, as they wait and shig ; 

While on the wing 

From the far-off South, through leagues so high. 

The Bkiebirds fly — 

Their clear Spring-carol ringing through the sky. 

Now the little birds from the crystal snow 

Welcome the hosts that northward go. 

For March is come. 

What joy to welcome the Robin home ! 

But wait, the furrows are not upturned: 

Only the berries that hung and burned, 

Of last year's fruits, are good to eat. 

With the balsamed Spruce and the Pine-seeds sweet, 

And a taste of snow, so fresh and crisp, 

Till mild winds whisper and green leaves lisp. ! 

But call aloud j 

O Bluebird proud ! 

And build your nest. 

Dear old Redbreast, ' 

Framed with sticks and plastered with mud, \ 

And greeting give to the swelling bud. j 

Now April is here, in her apron green, \ 

The Willow dons her silvery sheen, ^ 

Pee-wee and Sparrow settle down, [ 

And Swallows chatter in Swallow-town ; 
Barn and cave and cliff shall twitter, i 

And thronging pinions sail and flutter, ! 



48 THE PROCESSION OF THE BIRDS. 

Sweeping the meadow and skimming the lake, 

While air and water new graces take. 

Look and list ! from the low ground-vine, 

Where brown leaves cluster and old stems twine, 

Rises the Wood-thrush, with rij^pling note ; 

Song-thrush and Mavis their swelling throat 

Fill with delicious harmony, 

Pouring it forth to the breezy sky. 

Mother Nature is glad to-day 

To greet the birds of her darling May. 

The shrubs are dressed in rosy gauze, 

Amber laces drape the boughs ; 

Dainty nests are building, hid 

Clouds of softest green amid ; 

Bloom and tassel o'erhang the woods. 

Fragrance covers the nestling broods. 

Melody of Linnet and Lark 

Chime and cadence from dawn to dark ; 

Catbird's mimic, and Bobolink's fun, 

Bubble and trill till day is done. 

Fcstatic the June air presses and kisses. 

Inspired by love to the height of her blisses, 

Shot with the Oriole's golden flight. 

Streaked with the Tanager's scarlet light, 

Lit with the Humming-bird's dazzling wliirr. 

With countless glancing hues astir. 

Tenderly the Vireo's strain 

Pours through all its musical rain. 

Showers of song flood the breathing air, 

Joyful chorus of praise and prayer! 



HEFATICA AND EPIGEA. 49 

Out on tlie marsh, by the wayside pool, 
Watches the Kingbird in sedges cool, 
Whistles the Quail, the Woodpeckers dnini - 
Summer is flying, and Autumn is come. 
While the sweet, sad plaint of the Whippoorwill 
Pierces the woods, and a cry more shrill 
Answers back from the white sea-spray : 
" The birds' procession must pass away, 
But keep thy faith, for the seasons roll. 
And all thino-s grow with the growing soul." 



HEPATICA AND EPIGEA. 

Ilepcitica. 

Beneath the brown and rustling leaves, 

A-near the crispy snow, 
I lift my tender, hairy stems, 

My purple flowers blow. 
The March winds cannot reach me there; 

Nor later frosts benumb, 
My hardy buds will open fair, 

Hepatica has come I 

I hide my last year's foliage sere 

Beneath the mosses green ; 
Till fresh my heart-shaped leaves appear 

They 'd rather not be seen. 
So bring your baskets lined with moss. 

And tuck my blossoms in, 



50 HEl'ATICA AM) P:PIGEA. 

JMy l)luG flowers wrapped in liairy floss, 
My purple buds between. 

I see the trailing Mayflower sweet 

Come creeping near my bed ; 
It wanders on, with gentle feet, 

Its perfume rare to shed. 
So push away the rustling leaves, 

And greet Spring's heralds, true, — 
Hepatica and Epigea 

Are hiding there for you. 

See my sweet, pink' clusters 

On their viny stem I 
How they push and hasten, 

Spring winds beckoning them ! 
All amid the wet moss, 

Nestling in the mould. 
Twining round the frosty ground, 

Flowers fair and bold. 

Pluck the scarlet berries 

With the Partridge vine, 
Delicate Anemone 

Gracefully entwine. 
These so softly tinted, 

Perfumes sweet and rare, 
Prophets true and beautiful 

Nature's i^rrace declare. 



THE FLOWERY HILLSIDE. 51 

THE FLOV/ERY HILLSIDE. 

I know a lovely hillside, 

Lies sloping to the west, 
And over all its grassy mounds, 

Where darling children rest, 
Spreads such a sweep of fair spring flowers, 

The sweetest and the best. 

And, a^ the winds blow over, 

Tliey bend in tender grace, 
And throw their kisses o'er the slope, 

As if they saw the face 
Of some child-angel looking down 

From its high, heavenly place. 

Then wave their pure, soft blossoms 

In billows of fair hues ; 
The Strawbell's graceful pendants, 

The Violet's azure blues. 
Dear Housatonia's pearly stars. 

And pensive MeadoAV-Rues. 

And banks of great white Daisies 

Hold up their faces bright, 
With golden roAvs of Buttercups, 

liesplendent to the sight ; 
Like Heaven's radiant gates they shine, 

And walls of Chrysolite ! 

And on the crystal lakelet 
That nestles in the vale, 



52 THE FLAXSEED. 

Outspread the placid Lilies, 
In all their glory pale ; 

Their sweet, undying perfume 
Is wafted on the gale. 

So, while beside our baby's grave, 
My dear Mamma and I 

Heap up the flowers beautiful. 
Our swelling tears we dry. 

Such blessed messages of love 
Are blowing gently by. 



THE FLAXSEED. 

In all the little glasses on the table. 

Grow pretty flax-plants, from the seeds so brown ; 
And, as I look, it seems some wondrous fable, 

The fair green shoots above, the rootlets down. 

Wrts it all packed within that tiny casket. 
The [>olished, oval seedling lying there ? 

Did every still seed hear its Maker ask it 
To shoot out beauty to the light and air? 

Yes, when it heard God's voice, it rose obeying, 
Doing whate'er He said with heart sincere. 

It did not stop for doubt or shy delaying. 

But tried and tried till leaf and bloom ap] ear. 



THE INDIAN CORN. 53 

So, little cliildren, watch your shoots all growing, 

Down to the water, up into the air ; 
God asks you, like the flax-flower, to be showing 

Your sweet obedience to His love and care. 



THE INDIAN CORN. 

In the month of June so sunny 
The corn is waving green, 

And a plume of pollen-blossoms 
To crown its height is seen. 

The burnished bees about it 
Salute the Summer's queen. 

Fair, silver- tressed fairies, 
All wistful dance and dip, 

To whisper to their lovers. 

Who kiss them with sweet lip. 

Then down the sea-green channels. 
To quiet homes they slip. 

As sea-nymphs gliding softly 
Beneath the billow's curl. 

They slide within and nestle 
From the flutter and the whirl. 

To dream, and change, and ripen. 
And their silky banners furl. 



54 KINGS OF THE riilME. 

They sleep amid the rocking 
Of perfuine-laden breeze, 

They dream of happy nestlings 
111 July's shady trees, 

The ripening suns of August 
Their glowing fancies 23lease. 

While rounder still and fairer, 
September sees them grow, 

The children pluck the corn-silk. 
And shines the amber row ; 

The ripe ears for the harvest, 
The o'olden seed to sow. 



KINGS OF THE PRIME. 

(for keview of ancient history.) 

Hameses II. of Egypt., Sennacherib of Assyina^ N'eha 
chadnezzar of Babylon^ Solomon of Jerusalem. 

Hameses II. 
All kingly peers and sovereigns, ye I greet ! 
I, greatest of great Egypt's monarchs, come 
From bounteous father-Nile to meet your shades. 
Lingering in Eastern plains, by Tigris' stream, 
Along Euphrates' marshy current. Hail, 
Thou monarch most august, Sennacherib ! 
Thou ]nished'st thy conquests in the ancient world. 
Close to Sahara's golden border-line ; 
Through Egypt's fruitful land, gift of the Nile ; 



KINGS OF THE PRIME. 55 

Beyond the Indus' banks, all states enclosed 

Within thy realm : Judaea, Phoenicia's strand, 

The mighty Babylonia, farthest Ind, 

Green valleys, fertile river-basins, plains ; 

Mesopotamia, Hur, Arabia. 

What gorgeous palaces and splendid towers, 

Colossal temples, sculptured statues grand. 

Columns and arches, aqueducts iind walls, — 

Thy history painted on their massive tiles. 

Thy deeds inscribed within their frescoed halls, — 

As in a vision pass ! Kings of renown, — 

Tiglath-Pileser, Nabonassar, too, 

Sardanapalus, — antedate thy reign, 

Hold their high sway, and pass to silent dust. 

But thou, world-conqueror, stretched'st thy sceptre far, 

Lifted'st the winged sphinxes, lions, bulls. 

High on thy palace-gates, and all compelled 

To send their tribute to thy capital. 

Great Nineveh, along the Tigris shining 

With studded gold and gems, — a jewelled sword! 

Sennacherib. 
I bow to thee, great Rameses, or called 
Sesostris ; this, my country, erst was thine. 
Thou wert the earlier victor, and in Thebes, 
Three thousand years ago, thy sovereign name 
Was writ in hieroglyphs ; thy face portrayed 
On sculptured block and marble obelisk 'graved. 
I see afar thy mighty Pyramids 
Standing by Memphis' gates, world-wonders still ; 
Shufu, king-builder, sepulchred within. 



56 KINGS OF THE PRIME. 

I see sad Meranon gazing o'er thy plain, — 

Waving with golden corn, though reaped of glory, 

I hear his sighing down the vista hoary. 

Where Pharaoh's granaries stored the plenteous grain. 

The date-palm tosses all its emerald plumes 

Above the fertile bed, and the blue Nile 

Embroiders the fair land of Egypt still ; 

But out of its once dazzling splendor shines 

Only thy name — Sesostris. 

Hameses II. Well, my name 

Is on its ruins, for my heart is hid, 
Buried with all its mummies, dead, embalmed. 
Wrapped in its cere-cloths, with its amulets. 
My signet-ring and sceptre, necklace, crown, 
And sacred Scarabeii. All have fied, 
Isis, Osiris, Apis : all the gods. 
Only the everlasting host of heaven 
Wait the astrologers' and seers' return ; 
Only the mystic Sphinx is there to-day 
Blown over by remorseless sands to lift 
Appealing, grand, impassive front, and question 
One more eternity for Egypt's fate. 
The Pharaohs and Ptolemies forgot, 
Proud Cleopatra's peerless beauty humbled, 
E'en Rameses must seek oblivion; 
Yea, let me eat the lotus and return 
To drowsy death-sleep and forgetf ulness ! 

Sennacherih. 
The Nineveh I built is but a mound 
Of broken scul|)tures, heaps of fallen stones. 



KINGS OF THE PRIME. 57 

The bittern's cry re-echoes o'er my plains, 

A voica of desolation. O Assyria ! 

How overthrown and wasted since the day 

When from the Zagros mountains Media poured, 

With Scythian horse under Cyaxares, 

To meet the Babylonians at my gates ! 

The cruel liames licked np my silver streets, 

Strewn all with ashes were my marble towers, 

Pillars of porphyry, onyx, jasper, gold. 

All crumbled into heaps of common dust. 

And Babylon, thou too, the Spoiler ? 

Nebuchadnezzar. Yes. 

But Babylon is fallen, — is fallen indeed ! 
See all her myriad bricks, — written and sealed 
AVith all her glory and with all her doom ! 
H<)w ravishing her beauty once ! her walls 
Built round about with strength invincible, 
Buttressed with towers, and pierced with brazen gates. 
But feasting and luxurious pleasure came 
To hold high revel in her impious court ; 
Grace, beauty, wine's enchantment, music brought 
Their riotous excesses, and the name 
Most sacred was blasphemed by queen and prince ; 
When deep along the drained Euphrates' bed 
Kesounded tramj^ings of vast columns ; swift 
The couriers ran to tell Belshazzar; — shouts 
Rang swelling on to victory ; on the walls 
Out-struck the lightning of God's awful words, 
"■ Mene," and "Mene, Tekel, Upharsin ! " 



58 KINGS OF THE PRIME. 

Cyrus with fire and sword led in liis hosts, 
To sack and ravage mighty Babylon. 

Solomon. 
In Palestine I set my throne ; my power, 
Earlier than thine, built on foundation firm. 
Of wisdom and of knowledge, — God-inspired. 
Thou loved'st thy Median Queen, and gardens hung 
Terraced and planted with tall, goodly trees, 
With lofty rocks surmounted, watered well. 
Most luscious fruits there ripening, sweetest flowers 
Tossing their perfumes on the balmy air. 
To please her with her native mountain-scenes : 
So I loved Pharaoh's daughter, sung to her, 
"Rise up, my love ; my fair one, come away 
From Lebanon, from Hermon, O my spouse, 
From mountains of the leopard, lion's dens ; " — 
I ])laced her in my chariot paved with love, 
For she had ravished all my kingly heart. — 
But more I loved thee, O Jerusalem ! 
Thou city of the world, bright as the sun, — 
Adorned as bride for bridegroom ; on thy hills 
I reared the glorious temple like a pearl. 
Liglit, like a stone most precious, lily-work 
Encliased above its doors, enwrought in folds 
Of Tyrian purple ; cedar-built its walls, 
And rich with all Phoenicia's commerce brought 
From the rock-pillars of the unknown West, 
Laden witli treasures from the distant lands 
Of the far Orient; islands of the sea, 



KINGS OF THE PROIP:. 59 

Wliite cliffs that Sidon's ships liave visited, 

Tarshish and Ophir, Horeb's sacred mount, 

All sent their choicest and their costliest gifts, — 

Great stones and timbers, cunning workmanslii[), 

Hiram's fine brass and golden chasings, all 

To deck the dazzling temple-house of God. 

The Holiest I invoked to dwell there, — sure 

That wliat He sanctified should aye endure. 

Before Him I remembered all His ways 

AVith Israel ; — in your land, O Rameses, 

Once had my people dwelt a race of slaves. 

But their Jehovah led them through the sea 

By Moses' hand ; once, Babylonia, 

By thy sad rivers they sat down and wept 

When they remembered Zion, but on God 

They called, — not Bel nor Merodach, — but Him 

Who is a living Spirit, hears and leads 

His own fiock like a Shepherd ; so tliey came 

To build their walls again and sing His praise. 

Your kings are perished, and Chaldea is dead ; 

But Abraham's people shall return again, 

With everlasting joy upon their head ; 

Still Moses speaks the law, and David sino-s 

For all tiie world ; and He whose holy name 

Is given to all the ages, reigns subhme. 

From everlasting to everlasting stands 

Before all nations earth's Redeemer, — Kin"'! 



60 RIVERS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 



RIVERS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 

Let us lainicli our liglit canoe on tlie free Atlantic 

sti-eams, 
Kennebec, and Androscoggin, and Penobscot's foamy 

gleams, 
Amid the sombre forests, on the big-horned moose's 

trail, 
See the logs for wliirring mills, and the masts for thou- 
sand sail ; 
Skim the crystal crust of winter on the snow-shoe's 

willowy frame, 
Meet the Lidian in his wigwam, and the settler on his 

claim, 
Spy the crests of old Katahdin, or the ice of Moose- 
head Lake, 
Shoot the ra])ids of the freshet, clear the log-j;im's 

■ rushing break. 
Pass Bangor's new-made slii])ping, till Ave reach the 

o]^en sea 
From Maine's grand forest rivers, unfettered, broad, 

and fi-ee. 
Tlien darting up the Merrimac, through M;;ssachusetts' 

gnte, 
By the looms of busy cities with their bales of woven 

freight ; 
Lowell, Newburyport, and Lawrence, up to M.-mchcster 

we float. 
Then to lovely Winnepesaukee we will tnke oui* little 

boat. 



EIVEES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 61 • 

On this pearl of pearly lakelets, where the little hills 
rejoice 

And tlie snowy peaks are calling with their granite- 
echoed voice, 

Where grand, majestic ranges, like the Alps, around 
us stand 

In the names of mighty heroes of our happy father- 
land. 

Through Yermont's hills and valleys rolls Connecti- 
cut's deep tide, 

By 'New England's thrifty villages and pleasant towns 
we glide. 

On to the Queen of cities; our land's commercial 
mart, 

To pay the loyal homage of a proud and patriot 
heart, 

On the beautiful, bright Hudson, with its towering 
palisades, 

With its marble-pillared cities and its silvery cascades, 

Through'the lovely Catskills wandering, to the Adiron- 
dack slopes. 

Find the trout in crystal shallows, and the deer in 
tangled copse. 

Recall the shades of history ; see Heinrich Hudson's 
face 

In the iiush of hope and courage, urging on his fruitless 
chase. 

With the thunder of his nine-pins rolling down the 
distance large ; 

We '11 explore for other waters in our gallant, tossing 
baro-e. 



. 62 KiVERS OF THE ATLA^^TIC COAST. 

Ill the Mohawk's fertile valleys, by the necklace of fair 

lakes, 
Where Niagara's inighty torrent in resistless j^ower 

breaks ; 
Where the Delaware is rippling, and the Susquehanna 

flows, 
Through lands of summer beauty, twined with jessa- 
mine and rose, 
For Potomac's stately waters allure ns swiftly on, 
Where stands our comitrj^'s capitol, the s])acious 

Washington. 
O'er Roanoke's bright sparkle, o'er James's foaming 

wave, 
Virginia wafts the message of Mt. Vernon's sacred 

grave. 
Leave tbe swirling Alleghany, the Monongahcla scan ; 
Kot the grimy smoke of Pittsburg, nor the blood- 
stained Rapidan, 
Not Oconee nor Ocmulgee, where they join the Alta- 

maha, 
Nor the Wateree and Congaree pouring into Santce's 

maw, 
Nor the Coosa, Tallapoosa shall entice to nearer view ; 
Alabama or Tombigbee at the Mobile rendezvous. 
Nor the Flint and Chattahooche tempt ns on their 

devious way 
Through the Apalachicola into Mexico's huge bay. 
But we'll breathe the gentle ze])hyrs of the sandy 

southern strand, 
And we'll leave the Chesapeake by her beauteous 

Maryland ; 



RIVERS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 63 

With pennon gaily flying, the beloved strij^es and 
stars, 

In the Carolina rivers we escape the shoals and bars. 

Capes Fear and Hatteras warn us, Pedee and Santee 
call, 

And the noble, broad Savannah, goodliest river of 
them all. 

Avoid the si:)reading barrens of the naked Southern 
pine 

So odorous with the balsams of tar and turpentine ; 

Steer wide of treacherous currents in Okefinokee, 

One glimpse of Dismal Swamp is glimpse enough for 
me. 

But see the dusky workers amid plantations white 

With the wealth of Northern factories ; it is a cheery 
sight. 

See the cotton-fields and rice-swamps, see the sugar- 
cane and palm, 

And the boughs with long gray mosses drooping in the 
lazy calm, 

On the sullen St. John drifting, by the sleepy croco- 
dile ; 

Let us moor our weary bark in some sweet-embowered 
isle. 

Let us gather gorgeous blossoms, rest in golden orange- 
grove, 

And dream the sunny South-land is the only land we 
love. 



64 DISCOVERY OF GREENLAND. 



DISCOVERY OF GREENLAND AND NORTH 
AMERICA; 



HOW HEIWULF FINDS HIS SON. 

There 's a brave little isle of fire, 

Up in the Arctic main, 
Where Hecla tosses her red-hot stones, 

And the Geyser his scaldiDg rain. 

Thither the Danish sailor, 

A thousand years gone by. 
Drove on past Orkney and Faroe 

Into a sunless sky. 

And a hundred years thereafter 
Sailed westward Eirek the Red, 

To the glaciered coast of Greenland, 
And settled its southern head. 

In Eirek's ship went Heiwulf ; 

His thoughts, like the drifting rime. 
Streamed back for his son Bjarni, 

Who cruised in a summer clime. 

But his heart was young for venture 
Into realms unknown and weird, 

And his pulses leaped, as fiercely 
Througli perilous seas they steered. 



DISCOVERY OF GREENLAND. 65 

They saw on the floating ice-blocks 

The shaggy white bears ride, 
And the seals and the great sea-lions 

Swam close to the galley's side. 

Then the cruel hummocks grated 
And, with snapping teeth of ice, 

Threatened the bold prow dashing 
Or held it in a vice. 

While flashing to the zenith 

Flared wild the whistling lights, 

Over new stretching headlands. 
Into new sheltering bights. 

When the days had shrunk to an hour, 

Bjarni to Iceland came, 
And heard of the sail of Eirek 

To the seas without a name. 

" What shall be done, Bjarni ? " 

Distraught the sailors cried. 
" I winter with my father, 

Bear westward I " he replied. 

Three days and nights from Iceland, 
Then the I^orth wind scurried on ; 

The land was sunk, the curdling fogs 
Soon drowned the mid-day sun. 

For many days the scudding fogs 
Swept on the gallant craft ; 



6Q DISCOVERY OF GREENLAND. 

Then the sunshine lay on a long blue bay, 
And the white gulls flew abaft. 

" Ho ! sheltering hand of fresh green land ; 

Ho ! beckoning arm stretched out." 
'Tvvas Cape Cod good, with balmy wood. 

That answered back their shout. 

'• Stay not for springs and woodlands, 
For the Pole Star we are bound ; 

So up, my men ! " said Bjarni, 
" We '11 swing the vessel round." 

" Will you not stay, my Captain, 
To name yon shingly strand ? " 

" Fill up your beakers, Norsemen, 
And cheer for Newfoundland ! " 

" May we not cruise, Bjarni, 

Where Eastward waves break free 

Over yon New-found-land to meet 
The river of the sea ? " 

" Nay, by the Great Bear's pointers, 
Steer for the Greenland floes ! " 

So he moors his staunch Norse galley 
Right under the glacier's nose. 

Then he fares him to his father, 

So Heiwalf finds his son ; 
And at Heiwulfness they rest them. 

For their roviug days are done. 



THE NORTHERN VOYAGE. " C)l 

THE NORTHERN VOYAGE.* 

Once on a time, from Upernavik, 
We sailed the sea to Reikiavik ; 

It was a chilly time. 
The icebergs crowded round the vessel ; 
The winds and waves did toss and wrestle ; 

In that wild, frigid clime. 

We left the walrus on the ice-blocks ; 
We met the flying geese in nice flocks ; 

The polar bears sailed by. 
The aurora-borealis streaming, 
The midnight sun above us beaming 

Illumed the arctic sky. 

Oar frosty food in stove and kettle 
Refused to melt ; it tried our mettle 

To keep the fire bright. 
We burn the blubber and the whalebones, 
We try to drink the snow and hail-stones, — 

Oh, what a sorry plight ! 

At length we reach the boiling geyser ; 
It makes our tea and coffee nicer ; 

Our eggs we cook in steam. 
Mt. Hekla's red-hot stones are flying. 



* Written on the board, in school-hours, as an impromptu by 
the teacher and scholars, tlie latter (of the ages of eight to 
twelve) giving many of the lines extemporaneously, after an 
oral lesson on Iceland. 



68 BESSIE. 

The reindeer with the heat are crying 
Their tears run down, a stream. 

We hear the petrels screaming seaward, 
We turn our happy faces leeward, 

And take a tinkling sledge 
To reach our homeward destination 
After this cold investigation 

To the Pole's farthest edge. 

The bells at Kyrkedal are chiming, 
The donkeys up the roofs are climbing, 

The sheep are in the fold ; 
The boys at work, the girls a-knitting, 
The women at the fireside sitting. 

All safe from storm and cold. 

We '11 stay at home awhile in Iceland, 
No other land is such a nice land ; 

So true and good and free ; 
And in Valhalla with the sages 
We '11 smoke contented through the ages, 

Nor sail the frozen sea. 



BESSIE. 

(hymn for a veky sick SCnOLAE.) 

I miss her running blithely o'er the crossing, — 

Or at the open door : 
"Ah me!" I think, "how painfully she's tossing. 

And may return no more ! " 



BESSIE. 69 

I miss lier busy, dancing footsteps' patter; 

I miss her sunny face. 
Her sweet-voiced song and pretty lisping chatter, 

Her eager, restless grace. 

I love her for her happy heart unfailing ; 

My cheeks are wet with tears ; 
My anxious heart her sickness sore bewailing, 

Trembles with hopes and fears« 

Away from us at that long, endless crossing 

We almost see her turn ; 
With prayer and longing fervent and engrossing 

Our hearts within us burn. 

We pray, " Oh, hold her pulses in Thy keeping. 

Abide within her room, 
Restore to Thy beloved child while sleeping 

The dawn of health's fresh bloom." 

We know the Heavenly Shepherd leads us kindly, 

And in His sacred school 
Can teach the soul we try to help so blindly, 

And make it beautiful. 

We know Thou wilt be gentle and forgiving — 

More patient far tlian we : 
Thy will be done, — in dying as in living, 

We trust the child to Thee. 

But yet within our waiting arms replace her, 
O Thou ! whom prayer may reach ; 



70 THE NEAV-YEAK'S JOURNEY. 

And while in gratitude our hearts embrace hei\ 
Do Thou the lesson teach. 

And treat us all as children, Heavenly Father ; 

Loving, but faint and weak, 
Quiet and thankful, waiting still, the rather 

That we should hear Thee speak. 

" Speak," we will say, " O Lord ! Thy servant heareth ; 

What wouldst Thou have us do ? " 
Like as to Samuel, so to us apj^eareth 

The vision old and new. 

Vision of glory in the sorrowing chamber ; 

Of peace within our joy ; — 
Plis gracious presence who can but remember, 

And trust without alloy? 



THE NEW-YEAR'S JOURNEY. 

Bring thy bowl to the fountain, 

Thy cup to the spring. 
Thy staff to the mountain, — 

Shod feet, plumed wing ; — 
Be ready for climbing. 

Fill bowl and fill cup ; 
The New Year is chiming. 

Gird loins and start uj) ! 



THE new-year's JOURNEY. 71 

" Rise, rise ! " they are singing, 

The bells of the year ; 
Faith, courage, hope bringing 

With love and good cheer. 
The pitcher is dripping. 

The cisterns o'erflow : 
With God's help equipping, 

Go up the mount, go ! 

Look, look not behind thee, 

The goal is before ; 
No old fetters bind thee. 

Throw open the door ; 
Cast off every burden. 

Disperse every cloud ; 
" God's word is thy guerdon," 

The bells ring aloud. 

Turn not thy face rearward, 

Press on to the front ; 
Hear no doubt or fear-word, 

But stand to the brunt. 
The prize of thy calling 

Shines glorious yon ; 
God keep thee from falling 

Till victory be won ! 



72 NEW year's tournament. j 



NEW YEAR'S TOURNAMENT. 

Kling, klang ! with what a noise and clash 
The ^ew Year sj^rings to the saddle ! clash ! 
The bells are ringing as forth he starts 
Nor turns as the sad old year dej^arts. 

Ring, merry bells, ring ! 

The New Year is king. 

With a lusty strain 
See him ride away to his fair domain. 

Hail, gallant rider with spurs of gold ! 
Call far and near to the true and bold. 
Bright banners wave o'er his noble crest 
As he swings along with his lance in rest ; 

With his tossing plume. 

While his steed's white spume 

In feathery flakes 
O'er his festive track like a snow-cloud breaks. 

Wheel into line at the bugle note. 

While the trumpet shouts from its brazen throat. 

The way is shining, the track is true ; 

With firm resolve keep the end in view. 

" Good cheer ! good cheer I " 

Sings the blithe New Year. 

Glad pulses beat 
Like a drum to the tread of martial feet. 

Who rides with him ? 't is the motley world 
Willy, nilly, by fortune hurled. 



NEW year's tournament. 73 

They are driven on by resistless fate ; 
There are none too early and none too late. 

For this twirling ball 

Spins great and small ; 

And the crowding years 
May linger not for our hopes or fears. 

They hurry and push, the jostling crowd, 
In the blinding heat and the clangor loud. 
The chase' grows wilder, and swift and strong- 
Like a rushing river they dash along. 

For the time is short 

For toil or sport ; 

As the old years went. 
So this shall speed till its strength be spent. 

Ah ! many the hustle shall twist and moil, 
And many an aim will the contest foil, 
And many a broken lance will rust, 
And many a charger will bite the dust. 

But the steady rein, 

And the hope full fain, 

And the unswerved course, 
Shall bring in victor both man and horse. 

But ever the hurried pace is kept 
Though fords may be crossed and chasms leapt. 
Though skies be sunny, or stormy cloud 
Break o'er the throng with its thunder loud, 

Though the road be gay. 

Or the joust turn fray. 

Be it shade or shine. 
They must ride and follow who fall in line. 



74 THANKSGIVING. 

Ye faithless laggards, as well be dead 
When the year is flown and the race is sped. 
But, knights still ready for high emprise, 
The future laughs in your dauntless eyes, 

Brave race ye shall run. 

Fair prize have won. 

When the goal is past 
And, ye wear the blazon of worth at last. 



THANKSGIVING. 

Come home ! come home ! 
The hearth-fires burning bright 
Call with clear tongues of light, 
" Exiles, where 'er ye roam, 
Hark ! the sweet welcome home ; " 

The door stands wide, 
Fond hearts and true wait at the ingle-side : 

Come home ! 

Come home ! come home ! 
Haste from the city's care. 
Home can no longer spare 
Her own beloved ones now ; 
Smooth the close-knitted brow, 

Rest, weary head, 
Ul^on thy childhood's soft and jieaceful bed : 

Come home ! 



THE rOOR LITTLE CIIHIST-CHILD. 75 

Come home ! come home ! 
The fervent hand-clasps feel 
Grapplmg like links of steel ; 
Brothers and sisters all 
Come to your father's hall, 

To mother's arms, — 
O dear embrace beyond all later charms ! 

Come home ! 

Come home ! come home ! 
SmTonnd the festive board. 
Let the health-cup be poured, 
And as ye quaff it, sing 
To God your thanksgiving ! 

Our fathers' God, 
Who leads us safely home with staff and rod : 
Come home ! 



THE POOR LITTLE CHRIST-CHILD. 

(dialogue.) 

" Whom met you, dearest mother, 
ITpon the Christmas street?" 

" My darUng, 't was no other 

Than the Christ-child I did meet." 

" O mother, was he shining 

With glorious heavenly light ? " 

^'ISTay, he was low-reclining; 

His face was wan and white." 



76 THE FIKST CIIEISTMAS CAROL. 

" Dear mother, was lie carried 
In Mary's loving arms ? " 

" Nay ; strangers near him tarried, 
He shook with wild alarms." 

" O tell ns, dearest mother, 

Where did the Christ-child go ? " 

" The hosj^ital's low pallet 

Keceived him, suffering so." 

" Quick, let me run and bring him 
Our loveliest gift and best ! " 

"Yes, child, for with such giving 
Our Christmas will be blest." 

CJioriis. 

" For inasmuch," said Jesus, 

When on the earth, said he, 
" As ye do it to the least of these, 

Ye do it unto me." 



THE FIRST CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

So long, ah ! long ago 
Fell the soft, dreamy snow. 
Lit with a wondrous glow ! 

Not with the rosy light 
Of sunset flashing bright, 
Nor with the stars of niuht. 



THE THREE SAGES. 77 



Of clear, celestial beam 

From heavenly hosts that stream. 

And falling like a song, 
Each feathery flake along. 
The carol of that throng. 

" Glory to God ! " they sing, 
And on the snow's pure wing. 
Like holiest chimes that ring. 

Descends the benison : 

" Peace, peace on earth be won 

By God's beloved Son ! " 



THE THREE SAGES. 

(recitation for three.) 

How glows yon wondrous star, across the sand. 
Beckoning us on with its majestic hand ! 

Methinks it burns above th' horizon dim 

Like some great cross of flame, foretelling Him. 

Who, think ye, cometh with such mystic sign? — 
Is it not even He, — the Man Divine ? 

Yes, to Lnmanuel, prophet-seers reveal, — 
This heavenly cross points with its starry seal, 



78 THE PRAYERS OF THE CHILDREN. 

As glorious through the solemn sky it speeds, 
While all the glitteriug host its meaniug reads. 



Star-girt Orion bows, — the Pleiades seven ' 

WaA^e their bright censer down the westering heaven, 
And red Arcturus, low in Orient hung, j 

Hails Him, clear Morning-Star, by seraj^hs sung. 



•1 



Our comrades pace, with silent, reverent tread. 
In shadow of the caravan, star-led. 
Seeing a vision of One slain and crowned ! 

The place whereon we stand is holy ground; 
This desert-plain a chancel, golden-paved ; 
The distant mountain-peaks. His altar, laved 
With Love's most precious sacrifice ; the skies, 
Dome, where the quivering airs like incense rise. 
So to His shrine we bring our offerings meet, 
A¥ith gold of Ophir and all spices sweet. 
To greet the Kingly Child, and worshi]) at His feet. 



THE PRAYERS OF THE CHILDREN. 

The air is stirred 

By light wings swaying, 

And the sweet, pure words 
Of the children praying; 



THE PRAYERS OF THE CHILDREN. 79 

Till the angels hush 

Their phiions' flutter, 
And my heart beats low 

At the prayer they utter. 

"O dearie God!" 

Prays darling sister, 
With a pause of peace 

While the seraphs kissed her; 
'" Send daisy buds 

In millions blowing 
On the meadow-banks 

By the river's flowing." 

" Send thousands, thousands 

Of buttercups shining, 
And miles and miles 

Of May-flowers twining. 
Such lovely wreaths 

Of buds and daisies. 
Dear, sweetie God, 

I will weave for praises." 

In the sunset's glow 

I could see the shimmer 
Of radiant hosts. 

Till my eyes grew dimmer ; 
And I listened still, 

Though the little maiden 
Was smiling now 

In her sleep, dream-laden. 



80 THE PEAYERS OF THE CHILDREN. 

Then while still deeper 

The dark descended, 
More earnestly 

Were the voices blended ; 
Soft palms were crossed 

With a gesture holy, 
And the angels bowed 

With a trust more lowly. 

" I want a spirit," 

Prays thoughtful brother, 
" That will do no wrong ; 

Is there not some other 
More true than mine 

Thou canst give, dear Saviour, 
With a better heart 

And a right behavior ? " 

How close the thronging 

Of white wings waving! 
Pure child-like longing. 

The faith most saving, — 
Availing prayers 

To heaven they carry, 
For the Lord is coming 

And will not tany. 

So a blessing falls 

With the falling shadows; 

Hearts })u rifled 

And the bloominij: meadows 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81 

Fair Summer's promise, 

Glad hopes of heaven, 
Earth glorified, ' 

And souls foro"iven. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

{Lincoln Memorial Book.) 

Our country's Titan ! on her mighty rivers. 
Her trackless plains, in virgin forests growing, 

That strength was nurtured which a land delivers 
And reaps the harvest of a century's sowing ; 

Harvest of blood and death! O hapless nation! 
. Into that gulf her best and bravest throwing. 
Rome gave her Curtius for an expiation ; 

Our sealed abyss was Lincoln's heart outflowing. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

(Recitation for Two Girls.) 

[Garfield Memorial.) 

March 4, 1?>^1.— Laurel. 

He stands at the Capitol's portal 

With lifted hand ; 
The vows of God are upon him 

For the trust of the land ; 

Chief, true and grand ! 



82 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

He turns in his manhood's glory- 
To womanhood ; 

To his wife and mother he yearns 
From the multitude, — 
Heart fond and good ! 

He greets them before the j^eople 

With kiss of love. 
See it, ye men, and shout, 
Full hearts will out ; 

Rend the heavens above ! 



September 23, 1881. — Cypress. 

He lies in the wide rotunda 

With folded palms ; 
" Wounded for our transgressions ; 

Comrades in arms, 

Spread ye his pall 

For the peace of all. 



The thronging nations have passed him 

With falling tear, 
A royal woman's garland 

Ul)on his bier ; 

Knight without fear, 

3Iaji brave and dear! 



EASTER EOUNDELS. 83 

In this, his martyr-glory, 

Leave him alone ; 
For his kiss-crowned wife is coming. 

Though dead, he has known 

She would come — his own — 

To share his throne. 



EASTER ROUNDELS. 

I. O^sT EASTER DAY. 

On Easter Day the risen Lord 
Walks through earth's garden, fair and broad. 
And calls to every leaf and flower 
In tone of sweet, commanding power. 
Nature obeys the gracious word. 
And sj^rings to life with glad accord 
Of bloom and song the skies toward. 
In full and fresh creative dower. 
On Easter Day. 

So hears the soul the voice of God, 
And takes the Spirit's shining sword 
To pierce the shades of death that lower, — 
Reveal the resurrection-hour. 
That shall immortal life afford. 
On Easter Day. 



84 ME3IOrjAL IIOXDEAUX. 



II. THE SXOWDEOP COMES. 

The Snowdrop comes on Easter Day, 
Nor long the Crocus shall delay ; 
And soon, ah ! soon the Daisies bloom, 
The Mayflower finds its ow^n sweet room. 
And flaunts the Dandelion gay. 
Life, wdth its glad, exultant sway, — 
Earth, sky, in bridal fresh array, — 
While, usher of the bride and groom. 
The Snowdrop comes! 

Hear what the pure, shy blossoms say : 
" Though fields are bare and skies are gray, 
And life seems shrouded o'er A^'ith gloom ; 
An angel sits within the tomb, 
In robes of white to praise and yiray." 
The Snowdrop comes. 



MEMORIAL RONDEAU X. 

I. FAIR, CHERISHED FLAG. 

Fair, cherished flag! thy folds shall lean 
To-day o'er graves flower-strewn and green ; 
Tliy stripes and stars once blood-besj)rent,- 
Witli precious lives their hues were blent,- 



WREATHS FOR THE BRAVE. 85 

High 'mid the battle's conflict seen, 
Then shrouding forms in death serene ; 
Heroes who lay in j^eacef ul mien, — 
In thy defence their blood was spent, 
Fair, cherished flag! 

Enfold them in thy glory's sheen, 
Soldiers who did our harvest glean ; 

Heaven's canopy their still, white tent ; 

Brave host by Freedom forward sent ! 
They loved thy colors well, I ween, 
Fair, cherished flag ! 



II. WREATHS FOR THE BRAVE. 

Wreaths for the brave, who for their country bled. 
In memory of the precious drops they shed! 
On this, the day of their so high renown. 
Carry the loyal garlands through the town 
To deck with grateful flowers each martyred head. 
Let the proud ode be sung, fond words be said ; 
Amid our tears the honored roll-call read. 
While 'neath the drooping colors lay we down 
Wreaths for the brave. 

Over their graves Spring's fairest bloom be spread. 
Waft choicest fragrance o'er their patriot bed ; 
The daffodils, in all their shining gown, 
The violet sweet, the laurel's plaited crown — 
All beauteous blossoms for our country's dead. 
Wreaths for the brave ! 



86 ODE TO SCIENCE. 

III. THE MINUTE GUN. 

The minute gun breaks on the air; 
Not from yon fortress lone and bare, 

Through sea fogs dimly looming; 

But from the churchyard booming, 
Tlieir endless glory to declare 
Who gave their all — a patriot share - 
To save our country from despair. 

Their willing lives consuming. 
Brave minute gun ! 

O minute gun ! thy throbbing prayer 
Bespeaks a nation's grateful care, 
And fragrant, fond entombing 
Of those, our cause assuming. 
Who perished 'mid the battle's glare, 
O minute gun ! 



ODE TO SCIENCE. 

What conquering angel, on pinions of light. 

Flies high o'er the land, in our full, ravished sight; 

With arms wide extended o'er mountain and plain. 

And hands spread in blessing from river to main? 

Her smile like the sunlight, her robe of fair hues, 

Proclaim her our latest and loftiest muse ; 

Bright spirit of Science! we hail thee divine. 

Thy name on our banner. Truth's watchword and sign. 



ODE TO SCiy.NGE. 87 

What beauty illumines thy face and thy mien, 
How lavish thy bounty, tlie gifts of a queen ! 
Thy plumes shine as silver reiined in the fire, 
Thine eye lit with pure and immortal desire, 
Thy parted lips quiver with message of truth, 
Thy brow is aglow with perennial youth ; 
O grand, mighty angel, o'er sea and o'er land 
Thy sceptre of glory all realms shall command ! 

Thy course througli the upper air steadily moves 
In great arcs celestial, eternal their grooves ; 
Law, harmony, growth, all-embracing and sweet. 
Attend thy bright circuit, in union complete. 
Thy seasons are aeons uncounted by years, 
Thy voice is the grand, rolling music of spheres. 
Like a mighty wind rushing it sounds forth the word : 
Truth spoken by Nature is spoken by God. 

Thy touch, so magnetic, enkindles a flame 

In the heart that can feel and the tongue that can name ; 

We burn with its fire, we flash with its light. 

And we grasp in thy hand freedom, concord, and right. 

Transparent the earth in thy radiant beam, 

Through the veil of the temple thy glory shall stream, 

While discord and ignorance, want and despair, 

Shall vanish like mist in thy fresh morning air. 

No more, gods of Hellas, your votaries we ; 
No myths may entrance us, nor b?n(l we the knee 
At dim, unknown altars, while, splendid and wliite,. 
Fair Science is shinino: in clear, crystal light. 



88 ODE TO SCIEXCE. 

Bright Spirit of Science ! we heed thy behest ; — 
From the North and the Soutli, from the East and tlie 

West, 
We come at thy summons, we wait at thy feet, 
All kindred in thee as each other we greet. 

Thy reign universal brings peace, love, and joy; 
Thy wisdom is gold, without folly's alloy ; 
A]>prove us thy heralds, and send us abroad 
To bear thy glad tidings, the Truth of the Lord. 
Bright Spirit of Science ! we rise on thy wing. 
One aim, one devotion, one country we sing. 
Inspire us, unite us, and strengthen our band, 
And make us one i)eopIe, a purified land. 



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